PA PROGRAM AT LMU PREPARES TO WELCOME NEW CLASS

May 14, 2010 - Harrogate, Tennessee, May 14, 2010 – The Physician Assistant Program at Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM) will welcome its second class of students next week.

The 64 students in the PA Class of 2012 will matriculate on May 17, 2010, with their first day of orientation. The program is a full-time, 27-month program that leads to the Master of Medical Science degree in Physician Assistant Studies. The program is housed and administered by LMU-DCOM.

The PA Class of 2012 is comprised of 13 males and 51 females. The average age is 28.5. Approximately 75 percent of the class hails from the Appalachian region, with the majority of those coming from Tennessee or Kentucky.

“We are looking forward to having the second class of Physician Assistant students begin at LMU-DCOM,” said Dr. Michelle Heinan, director of the PA Program. “The class is made up of a diverse group of students mainly from this region, but also throughout the United States, with the mission of helping the medically underserved areas by providing high quality health care. This will mark another milestone for the LMU-DCOM Physician Assistant Program.”

The PA Program is an integral part of the health professions education taking place in the LMU-DCOM building. Medical school faculty members teach many of the PA Program courses and the PA students have full use of the building’s high quality learning labs. PA students at LMU-DCOM study cadaveric anatomy on-site in the Anatomy Lab, which includes camera projection of dissections. They engage in medical scenario simulations in the building’s Simulation Lab, which includes a simulated operating room, simulated emergency room, simulated OB/GYN birthing suite and simulated intensive care rooms. Simulations are performed with computerized mannequin patients, including SimMan 3G, which can present with any medical symptom and respond to medical treatment. As with the osteopathic medical school classes, all PA Program classes and labs are digitally recorded and archived for students’ use. The PA Program curriculum is paperless, with all PA students being issued tablet PCs upon matriculation. Curricular materials are loaded directly onto the tablets or uploaded by the students from LMU’s online e-learning portal.

The DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine is located on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. LMU-DCOM is an integral part of LMU’s values-based learning community, and is dedicated to preparing the next generation of osteopathic physicians to provide healthcare in the often underserved region of Appalachia and beyond. For more information about LMU-DCOM, call 1-800-325-0900, ext. 7082, e-mail dcom@lmunet.edu, or visit us online at www.lmunet.edu/dcom.